On the radio

UPDATE: Sadly, I didn't make it to the lolcats today after all. But you can hear me come over all inarticulate when Kathryn announces my new job, and wax all lyrical about my visit to Te Papa.



Today on the radio I'm going to be talking about my first real visit to Michael Parekowhai's On first looking into Chapman's Homer, and why I think it is such an unusual and moving experience, and the Walker Art Center's Internet Cat Video Film Festival - a seemingly silly idea that drew a crowd of ~10,000 people and might tell us something important about how digital life can bring us together in the real world.

Some links:

Michael Parekowhai at Te Papa

Thursday night events at Te Papa:

Jenny Harper, Commissioner of Parekowhai’s project for the Venice Biennale, and musician James Illingworth and singer Kirsten Te Rito, 6 September

Rawiri Paratene reading poems by Hone Tuwhare, and a performance Lexus Song Quest Finalist Isabella Moore, 13 September

Cushla Parekowhai, Michael Parekowhai’s sister and collaborator, and singer Mere Boynton and pianist Taanga Lawrence, 20 September 

The Walker Art Center’s Open Field programme

The Internet Cat Video Film Festival

New York Times article on the Internet Cat Video Film Festival

This is also a good time to note that Nate Solas from the Walker Art Center is one of the keynote speakers at this year's National Digital Forum conference (as is Aaron Straup Cope, who I have been internet-stalking since Museums and the Web 2008. Don't be too scared though Aaron. I'm actually quite friendly.). The conference is on Tuesday and Wednesday 20-21 November, with workshops on the Monday. Registration is now early, and travel grants and subsidised registrations have been announced. As a previous Board member and conference convenor I am no doubt biased (or perhaps simply proud) when I say that this is a world-class event and relevant to anyone working in a cultural organisation that's trying to reach out into the world beyond its physical galleries. You should be telling the people who hold the purse strings to send you along now.